An LGBTQ Science Fiction & Fantasy podcast

Submission Guidelines

STATUS UPDATE: GLITTERSHIP IS CURRENTLY OPEN to submissions for fiction and poetry.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE: I have been informed that the new airtable form is not playing well with screen-readers. I will be working to figure out what is wrong with the form, and trying to fix it. If it cannot be fixed, GlitterShip will either move to a new submissions format that is accessible to people who use screen-readers or will return to email-only submissions. If you are unable to access the form, please use the submissions@glittership.com email address to submit your work to GlitterShip.

ALL SUBMISSIONS SENT PRIOR TO FEBRUARY 26, 2018 HAVE RECEIVED RESPONSES.

Short fiction originals: OPEN

Pay: 3 cents per word ($30 minimum)

Wordcount: 100 to 7500 words

Rights: Exclusive English language audio and electronic rights for 6 months after publication, non-exclusive right to keep the story in our archive.

NOTE: GlitterShip will consider fiction produced as rewards for Patreon backers, or on locked/non-public mailing lists and accounts as previously unpublished for our purpose
Genre: Science fiction, fantasy, horror, interstitial, speculative, whatever. It’s an SF/F magazine, but if in doubt, send it.

Stories must contain some queer content. I believe in queer as a large umbrella term and specifically include trans, genderqueer, intersex, two-spirit, pan and ace/aro identities in addition to LGB. If your story includes an identity not listed here that you feel is queer, please don’t self-reject.

Simultaneous and multiple submissions are okay, but please do not send more than 3 stories at a time.

Poetry originals: OPEN

Pay: $10 per poem

Length: any

Style: any

Poems should be queer & speculative, but please interpret that how you will.

Simultaneous and multiple submissions are okay, please limit your submission to 5 poems at a time. Also, please let me know if you want to record yourself reading your poem.

23 Comments

This is a much harder question than it should be to answer. I wanted to be much faster with responses than I have been. As it is, I am still working through some May submissions, though I intend on getting more on the ball with my submissions in the next few weeks. Hazards of being a one person show!

Hi! I am interested in submitting my short stories to your magazine. However, you do not explain your method of payment to writers. Do you use PayPal or can an author request a payment in the forum of a cheque?

I thought I was somewhere near the end of May, but then I discovered that the stories people had queried on ended up bumped later. So… all times, really. I did not intend to be so slow, but I am bad at time, apparently. 🙁 -K, as of 10-7-15

I’m not interested in the typical queer/transphobic clichés, but other than that send whatever.

I’m not a big fan of superheroes, but I just bought a superhero story. There are any number of SFF tropes and stories that I don’t like, but if it’s really good it can win me over. I’d prefer to keep my options open.

This is especially the case since many of the people submitting to me are from underrepresented backgrounds and are more likely to self-reject. I’d hate to miss out on an awesome story because someone said to themselves, “Well, I’d try this on GlitterShip, but I know Keffy hates werewolves, so why bother!”

I will say that I’ve been getting a lot of stories in which the protagonist’s significant other has died, usually before the story. Which isn’t necessarily bad — I’ve bought several! However, this does make it a little harder to sell stories with that element, just because I’d rather GlitterShip didn’t become The Dead Queers Quarterly.

That said, I allow multiple submissions, so if people send something, and then later have another story that might fit, they do not have to wait for a rejection.

Hello, I submitted a story a year or so ago, and it was rejected here but got picked up somewhere else. I was wondering, could I resubmit it as a reprint, or should I assume that whatever you didn’t like about it before will still apply now? (Sorry if this question is rude, I thought I should ask either way.)
Also, if I am able to resubmit it as a reprint, I have another, original, story that I’d like to submit as well. Should I send both in one email or do one email for the reprint and one for the original?
thanks for your time!

If I rejected the story as an original, it’s unlikely that I will want it as a reprint. In general, please send stories in separate emails — I put the reprint and original submissions in different email folders.

I just wanted to say that it’s really lovely how you continuously encourage writers not to self-reject, and to submit anyway when in doubt! I’ve been going through submission pages lately and most of them make me very anxious and wary of submitting. This one however has got me feeling all warm and fuzzy.

At this moment, there is no automated confirmation of receipt. I am planning to clear out my submissions by the end of August, however. I’m also working on getting a better submissions portal that allows for confirmation emails.

Do submissions need to be in proper manuscript format? I submitted a story to you (first story I’ve ever submitted) but it was not in this format. If you’d like, I can change it to that format and resend it. Thank you!